The Xavier Musketeers (3-0) finished off their three-game homestand to open the season by defeating the Sacred Heart Pioneers (2-2), 105-65. Jordan Crawford led four Musketeers in double-figure scoring with a career-high 26 points. Jason Love and Kenny Frease each added 14 points and Mark Lyons chipped in 12 points. Love grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, while McLean also established a new career high with 13 boards. Lyons and Terrell Holloway each dished out 4 assists. Sacred Heart was led by Corey Hassan who scored 22 points and Ryan Litke who added 12 points. Mehmet Sahan grabbed 6 rebounds and Hassan and Litke each had 5 assists.

Chris Mack, XU’s 17th head coach, is now 3-0 in his debut season, equaling the 3-0 start posted by Skip Prosser in his first season as head coach at XU (1994-95). Pete Gillen, who preceded Prosser as the head coach at Xavier, began his tenure by going 5-0 in the 1985-86 season.

Xavier, in its 10th season at Cintas Center, is 123-17 (.879) all-time at its on-campus arena. The Musketeers are 61-7 (.897) against non-conference foes at Cintas Center. The Musketeers have a 12-game winning streak at Cintas Center (8-0 to finish 2008-09 and 3-0 to begin 2009-10).

The 105 points scored by the Musketeers were the most by an XU team since lighting up the scoreboard in a 108-70 win against Virginia (1-3-08).

For the second straight game, XU scored 50 or more points in both halves with 50 in the first half and 55 in the second half. Against Bowling Green (11-17-09), the Musketeers tallied 51 first-half points and 50 second-half points. The last time the Musketeers scored more than 100 points in back-to-back games was during the 2007-08 season when they blasted Kansas State 103-77 at U.S. Bank Arena (1-31-07) then followed that with a 108-70 victory against Virginia (1-3-08).

By connecting on 56.7 (38-for-67) of its field goal attempts, XU shot better than 50 percent from the field for the third straight game. The last time a Xavier squad shot better than 50 percent in three straight games occurred last season when the Musketeers connected for 52.3 percent against La Salle (1-18), 54.2 percent against St. Bonaventure (1-21), and 52.9 percent at LSU (1-24).

Through three games, Xavier is shooting 57.8 percent (96-for-166) from the field and 53.6 percent (30-for-56) from behind the 3-point arc.

Following his career-high 24-point outburst against Bowling Green Tuesday, Jordan Crawford set a new career-high with 26 points tonight to become the first Musketeer to score 20-plus points in consecutive games since B.J. Raymond scored 20-plus points in four straight games last season. Raymond registered 21 at LSU (1-24), 23 against Charlotte (1-28), 22 against UMass (1-31), and 24 against Temple (2-5).

Jason Love grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and registered his second straight double-double (the third of his career) with 14 points and the 15 boards. His previous career high in rebounding was 12, which came against Bowling Green (11-17-09) and against Memphis at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off (11-23-08). He scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against Bowling Green (11-17-09). The 15 rebounds were the most by a Musketeer since Derrick Brown grabbed 16 boards against BYU in the First Round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament in at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky (3-15-07).

Jamel McLean grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds. His previous high was 11 against Robert Morris (12-31-08). He also grabbed 11 boards twice as a freshman at Tulsa during the 2006-07 season.

Freshman Johnny Mazza scored his first career points as a Musketeer by draining a 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining in the contest.

Runs

Leading 9-6 at 15:31, XU went on a 21-4 run to take a 30-10 lead at 8:57. Jordan Crawford scored 7 points and Jason Love was 4-for-4 from the free throw line during the spurt.

Up Next: The Musketeers face the Marquette University Golden Eagles on Thursday, November 26, at 2:00 p.m. in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic at Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. Marquette leads the all-time series with XU by a 44-15 margin, but the Musketeers have won eight of the last 10 meetings, and the last two. In the most previous contest between the two teams, XU defeated Marquette 75-59 on December 16, 2000, at Cintas Center. XU will play either Creighton or Michigan in the second round of the tournament depending on the outcomes of the first round games.